<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--
%%LICENSE%%
Version: %%VERSION%%
-->
<html>
<head>
    <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png"
        href="images/crowdlogger-logo.001.16x16.png"/>
    <title>About %%PROJECT_NAME%%</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="style/style.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="bodyWrapper">

    <!-- The header. -->
    <div class="header">
        <div class="title">
            <span class="logo-version">version %%VERSION%%</span>
            <img class="logo" src="images/crowdlogger-logo.002.png"/>
            <span class="titleMain">About</span><br>
            </span>
        </div>

        <div id="iframe" class="menu-frame">
           <iframe src="menu.html" marginheight="0" width="100%" 
           frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="70px">
           </iframe>
        </div>
        <div id="share-iframe" class="share-iframe">
           <iframe src="share.html" marginheight="0" width="100%" 
           frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="80px">
           </iframe>
        </div>

    </div>

    <!-- Brings us down to just below the title. -->
    <div style="clear: both;"></div>
    <div class="headerBuffer"></div>



<h2>Contents</h2>
<ul>
    <li><a href="#capabilities">Capabilities</a>
    <li><a href="#why">Why did we make %%PROJECT_NAME%%?</a>
    <li><a href="#why">What are apps &amp; studies?</a>
</ul>
    
<a name="capabilities"></a>
<h2>Capabilities</h2>
<p>
%%FULL_PROJECT_NAME%% is a platform on which researchers can conduct studies of how  people search the Web. Built as a browser extension for <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/">Google Chrome</a> and <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/">Firefox</a>, %%PROJECT_NAME%% offers several services for research studies, including:
</p>
<ul>
  <li>accessing participants' past search behavior
  <li>accessing participants' real time search behavior
  <li>local storage
  <li>uploading data (either privately or not)
  <li>aggregating data across participants privately
  <li>interacting with participants via HTML
      <br/>Examples:
    <ul>
      <li>questionnaires
      <li>labeling tasks (e.g., relevance judgments)
      <li>data visualization
    </ul>
  <li>performing server-side computations
</ul>

<p>
Not all of these capabilities are implemented quite yet, but we're getting there!
</p>
<!-- 
<p>
A crucial element of the system is that the only information that is revealed to researchers is information that is shared by many <i>different</i> individuals. In the current study, we consider "many" to be five. Any data this is not shared by many different individuals is undecipherable.
</p>

<p>
The system involves a Web browser extension that you will install. The
way it works is that your search behavior is logged on your
computer. Search behavior includes actions such as entering searches
on Web search engines, clicking on results for those searches, and
navigating through web sites. For sensitive sites&mdash;e.g., bank websites&mdash;%%PROJECT_NAME%% does not log any information other than the name of the site.

We will periodically ask you to run
experiments on your search logs by clicking on a button that is part
of the browser extension. These experiments will extract information
from your logs and encrypt them. The encrypted information is then sent to a server, where
it's combined with encrypted information from other users and
decrypted if the same information comes from several different users.

<br><br>
<h2>So what kind of information is extracted?</h2>
An example experiment that we may run is to have the extension extract the individual searches you submit to Web search engines. Let's suppose you have entered the following searches:

<ol>
  <li>facebook</li>
  <li>blueberry pie recipes</li>
  <li>toe fungus ointment</li>
</ol>

Let's also suppose that 70 other people also entered searches 1 and 3. Your
second search for blueberry pie recipes will be ignored&mdash;never seen by
researchers. The other two will be revealed, but we will:

<ol>
  <li><i>not</i> know that <i>you</i> entered them</li>
  <li><i>not</i> know that they were entered by the <i>same person</i></li>
</ol>

Because we can only see information that is common among many different people,
your sensitive searchers are not revealed. Because the two conditions above
hold true, your identity and privacy are preserved.
 -->

<a name="why"></a>
<h2>Why did we make %%PROJECT_NAME%%?</h2>
<p>
As researchers in the field of search technologies, we are interested in data pertaining to Web search. This data helps us develop new search algorithms and tools to improve your search experience. There are many ways to collect data, but many times it involves developing the apparatus from scratch&mdash;something that is costly and, for small or non-technical groups, extremely difficult. In addition, it's often difficult to get a large number of participants for studies.
</p>

<p>
%%PROJECT_NAME%% addresses these issues. First, it minimizes the amount of programming necessary. A growing number of example study modules makes it easy to tweak existing studies for a researcher's needs. In addition, the code base is open source, so anyone who would like can modify the underlaying framework so it better suits their needs.
</p>

<p>
Another goal of %%PROJECT_NAME%% is to form a community of users who participant in many of the studies offered through the interface. Participants of one %%PROJECT_NAME%% study may notice another %%PROJECT_NAME%% study being offered and participate in that one, as well. We hope this will increase study sizes from tens of users (a common range today for academic research) to hundreds or more. 
</p>



<a name="apps-and-studies"></a>
<h2>What are <i>apps</i> and <i>studies</i>?</h2>
<p>
We currently differentiate between two kinds of CrowdLogger Remote Modules (CLRMs): <i>apps</i> and <i>studies</i>. The differences can be subtle, but the general idea is that:
</p>

<p>
    <span style="color: orange">App:</span>
    User-centric; installed for the purpose of helping users visualize or otherwise leverage their search history.
</p>
<p>
    <span style="color: orange">Study:</span>
    Researcher-centric; created as a means for researchers to collect information from users, e.g.: collecting search patterns or asking users to annotate data.
</p>


    <!-- Everything below here is for the footer. -->
    <div class="buffer">
    </div>

<div class="copyright-frame">
   <iframe width="100%" src="copyright.html" scrolling=no 
           frameborder=0 marginheight=0 height=40px>
   </iframe>
</div>

</div>

<div class="emptyFooter">
</div>
    
</body>
</html>
</body>
</html>
